Can I claim my niece and nephew? My brother doesnt work and I send money to help pay his bills? They dont live in the same town as I.

[LinaJ2018 · Accepted solution]

Yes, you may if you meet the following requirements:

Gross Income: They earned less than $4,200 each in 2019.

Total Support: You provide more than half of the total support for the year. - Support Test

Relationship: Must be your child, adopted child, foster child, brother or sister, or a descendant of one of these 

They cannot be claimed by anyone else. 

For details, click here: 

Credit for Other Dependents 

[Hal_Al]

Simple answer: NO.

There are two types of dependents, "Qualifying Children"(QC) and standard ("Qualifying Relative" in IRS parlance even though they don't have to actually be related). There is no income limit for a QC but there is an age limit, a relationship test and residence test. Only a QC qualifies a taxpayer for the Earned Income Credit and the Child Tax Credit. They are interrelated but the rules are different for each.

They cannot be your QC because they do not live with you.

In order for them to be a qualifying relative, you would have to have provided more than half their total support. In addition, you brother must not be required to file a tax return. Just sending money to help is unlikely to meet this standard. 

The IRS has a worksheet that can be used to help with the support calculation. See: http://apps.irs.gov/app/vita/content/globalmedia/teacher/worksheet_for_determining_support_4012.pdf The support value of the home your brother provides is the fair market rental value plus utilities, divided by the number of occupants.